Retainer-welt slipper sock



Jan. 8, 1952 M. sPAcK RETAINER-WELT SLIPPER SOCK 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Nov. 1'7, 1950 J5 Flea.

F'IG

INVENTOR MAURICE SPAC K BY Ql- @l/"L FIG. 4

ATTORNEYS Jan. 8, 1952 M. sPAcK 2,581,728

RETArNEwwELT SLIPPER socx Filed Nov. 17, 195o 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR MAumcE PACK ATTORNEYS Jan. 8, 1952 M. sPAcK 2,581,728

RETAINER-WELT SLIPPER- socx Filed Nov. 1'7, 195o 3 sheets-sheet s INVENTOR MAURICE PACK ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 8, 1952 ,My yinvention.,relates to a .new andgimptoved artcleof footwea?, namely, j@ AnewH ang kimproyed combinaronsock; anliwelt' andbutenpgle; .Ilhe sock exemplifiesone type;.-of, 1eg,coverine,whieh may be replaced. byeny ,'otner. tyoe Optionally and' preferably,thevjsoeklisknitted] f lom A`otgppn. wooL'rayonand othenmeterialano-emmene??? terms or migruresthereof. I ,niseok may-he of any.. usual.. construction, so that it ris=soft and si1y bendab1e.., e M ,It; has neretofor,e! neeninropoeetv to ,leonneetthe exposed face of the bottom wq11l of n efo9t -portonuof a vsoelttto an'outer sole by'meanstof vuloanizaton. J,A eeoraine. to the, imnrove,rnerltew'l :euperior article. ismafnufeotulrfed easily endet 19Wefast,M

in the bottom wellnilthefoot .of e soel; temerely mleenized ,or otherwise .n xedgto/enouter sole. the artiole vis. 1f 1ethe.1 r .safe non eomfortablewloe- .cause theeisnotning-,to preenethefoot oiithe userrom shiftingoentheedee ofthe outer eole. 1Aoeording to one 4,feature oi my invention. I cement. o welt whehis `bent L to .angularhpene vthe ,unstandingioll19I1gtus1nal-wa1l pi the j'foek andalso tothe lgtteral bottom y well oi-*the f9et .9f heoek, While :one oelaiisone laet- @he seelsis preferably slightlyetretehen 'and nder 'tenslon -on".s aic1 .last.. Themen is ,thee-benne '@Asnepe whichv hased ,substantially Lemme@ eresefeeeten.

so. thateaid lbeneyven nas e' loneitutinahpe 1 and mlettered foot-portion,and@,reundesjunetin between Seid longitudinal. gpnrtenen, Qtnertion @the welt- In initially eem ntieggpthe weltinangmen heneetethe .Soek, .liretpleferehlyepply edhesixcefonlyto ,the lonsitudinel porflernbeine cemented tothe. lastangular shape; "and to cernentfthe foot-'portion of the welt'I to the foot of the sock. I th'fplfnesive to vthe: exposed'faeelbfftefwrmy nu Toot-Apoftin ofsnewet.

termedi'at'e .the vinner edgeof the footLpoftion-of Y vthe welt. Whenthe. outersolel is-rmlyuntedt'to "Th'e' angular' Weltt-tliusprovdes framefrtthe siuent'or'bendable neme. Y

Fig. zgisnsentient'y the aina-222mm' 1 tween the leg and the foot ojf the sock.H For con- .y 3 Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 6. Fig. 9 is a. similar sectional view of Fig. 7.

Fig. 10 is a perspective View of an outer sole.

Fig. 11 is a section on the line I I-I I of Fig. 10.

Fig. 12 is a diagrammatic end view which shows the nal operation in making thecornbination article. y y

Fig. 2-fsliows Aan Vangular welt'3a'which is of uniform thickness throughout. This welt 3a has a longitudinal or vertical part 36 and a lateral and inwardly bent horizontal flange or foot-part 3c. The inner face of the foot-portion 3c of said welt 3a is connected by a layer of adhesive 6 to the marginal edge-part of'the bottom wall vI of the foot of the sock. and the portion 36 is also connected by said adhesive to the respective part o the outer wall of the foot of the sock. 4

Figs. 3 and 4 show the greatly preferred type of welt 3. This welt 3 consists of two layers of cloth or other material 5.and 5a, whose adjacent inner faces are connected by adhesive.y These joined layers 5 and 5a are doubled to provide an inwardly bent and lateral. edge-portion I-1a which forms the longitudinal .portion of the welt, so that the preferred welt- 3 is of double thickness at its longitudinal edge-portion i-Ia. As one example, to which the invention is not limited, the welt 3a is made ofywoven cotton cloth which has a thickness of 0.06 inch or more and the layers 5 and 5a are made of cotton cloth, with a total thickness of 0.06 inch or more.

Fig. 3 shows how the welt 3 is led longitudinally over and in contact with a power-driven roll 8, in the direction of arrow I. The exposed face of the longitudinal-or edge-portion 'I-la of welt 3 t is thus led longitudinally under a nozzle 9. through which adhesive is owed to form a. layer 6 of said adhesive upon the entire lateral exposed face of the inwardly bent edge-portion I-1a.

This adhesive layer 6 is preferably an aqueous dispersion of rubber or rubber substitute, such as latex, which has been concentrated and compounded so as to have high viscosity and low penetration in the material of the sock I. The rubber of said adhesive is optionally prevulcanized, or said adhesive is optionally provided with sufficient accelerator and Vulcanizing agent so as .tovvulcanize the rubber when this adhesive is air dricdat ordinary room temperature of 20 C.25 C. After the layer of adhesive has been applied, the welt 3 is applied immediately.

Fig. 5 shows the sock I located on a last L. which is shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The sock I preferably is stretched and under tension when it is on the last L. Said last L has a post 2 which projects from the leg of sockA I, for convenient handling. Y

While the post 2 is fixed to a work-table the portion 'i-la of the welt 3 is applied to the foot of the sock as shown in Figs. 6 and 8 so that its adhesive layer 6 is applied tothe outer longitudinal wall of the foot of sock I, and the edge of the doubled edge-part 'i-la of welt 3 is substantially at the level of the bottom wall 4 of sock I.

Prefera-bly, no `adhesive is applied directly to sock I.

If adhesive is applied directly to sock I, it penetrates sock l, thus lling its material and cementing the sock I to its last L. These results are very undesirable. y

By using an adhesive of high viscosity and vwhich has low penetration in the material of sock I, and by partially evaporating the water of said adhesive to give it enough body, and by using suitable lowv pressure, the welt 3 is cemented to the longitudinal wall of the foot of the sock, with only slight penetration of the adhesive layer 6 in the material of the sock. The sock thus remains easily removable from last L.

Fig. 6 and Fig. 8 show that when the longitudinal portion of the welt 3 is joined initially to sock I, said welt 3 then has a projecting edge-portion M which extends above the bottom wall 4 of the footo'f the sock `"I. This'edge-portion M provides the foot-portion `of thewelt.

As Yshown in Fig. 6, adhesive is applied to the inner face 5a of the upwardly projecting edgeportion M, and also to the exposed or outer face of the bottom wall 4 of the foot of the sock. This layer of adhesive I2 may be applied by spraying. with the use of a spray-nozzle I I, over the entire inner face 5a and over the entire outer face of Wall 4..

The adhesive of layer I2 is preferably rubber cement which is made by dissolving or rdispersing rubber in a volatile petroleum fraction. This layer I2 has only'slight penetration in the wall 4,' so that it does not cement the sock to the last.

` As shown in Figs. 7 and 9, the upwardly projecting edge-portion M is now bent inwardly to abut and be cemented to the marginal edge-portion of wall 4. The welt is thus given an angular shape of substantially L-shaped cross-section.

A layer of adhesive I4 is then applied to the entire outer or exposed face of the inwardly bent foot portion of the welt by means of nozzle I5. The adhesive I4 may be a rubber cement, of the same type as layer I2.

The welt 3a is applied in the same way as the welt 3.

Fig. 10 shows an outer sole I6 of sponge or foam rubber. This outer 'sole may be cut from a large `strip or sheet of sponge rubber or foam rubber. As made commercially, a layer of sponge rubber has top and bottom skins which have various ller materials, such as mica, etc. These vskins have poor adherence to adhesive. Hence it is desirable to rub the' edge-portion I'I of the face Yof soley I6 which is to be applied and cemented to the sock and welt, as by meanes of an emery wheel or other abrading tool. This removes a very thin layer of the surface of the skin. in order to secure proper cementing. The entire vstrip or sheet of sponge rubber or foam rubber may be thus treated, before cutting out the respective sole I6. All the cementing operations disclosed herein are performed at room temperature of substantially 20-25 C.

The outer sole I6 is now assembled with the exposed face of the foot-portion of the welt, and with the exposed face of the wall 4 which is intermediate the inner edge of the foot-portion of the welt. 'Ihe assembly is made and held under pressure until the entire inner face of the outer sole I6 is firmly cemented to the adjacent faces ofthe foot-portion of the welt and of wall 4.

. The stitches 2u provide additional connection between the upstanding part of the welt and the upstanding wall of the foot of the sock.

Fig. l2 shows conventional means for holdin the assembled sock, angular welt and outer sole under pressure, while the sock is on its last. The hollow form II can be inflated so as to exert upward pressure, by means of compressed air which enters the hollow form through valve-controlled inlet-pipe I8. The last is held against upward movement by a stop I9, which optionally may be urged downwardly. f

In the finished article shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 12, the upstanding portion of the angular welt has suihcientstiffness, in4 combination with the contiguous portion of sock l, to maintain itself and the contiguous sock portion normally upstanding to provide an upstanding frame around the foot portion of the sock, said frame preferably extending upwardly from the edge of the outer sole I6. This frame is of suitable height, as 0.5 inch, to provide a frame for the foot of the user. This frame is bendable and resilient although it has the required stiffness. The construction of `welt 3 is preferred, because 'its upstanding frame wall is of double thickness, with resultant greater strength and resilience.

It will be appreciated that, while in the foregoing specication and claims the sole member I6 may be referred to as an outer sole member, since the sole member I6 is outer with respect to the bottom wall 4 of the foot of the sock, I do not wish to imply that the sole member I6 is necessarily the outermost member of the sole of the slipper sock, since it will obviously be desirable for some purposes to apply another sole member or a plurality of additional sole members to the bottom of the sole member I6.

I have described preferred embodiments of my invention, but numerous changes, omissions, additions and substitutions may be made without departing from its scope.

I claim:

1. An article of footwear which comprises a knitted sock, an angular fabric retainer welt which has a substantially L-shaped cross section, and an outer sponge rubber sole, said sock hav ing foot and leg portions, said welt being external to said sock and extending continuously around the periphery of said sock, one portion of said welt being upstanding and cemented to a contiguous portion of the sock and having sufficient stiffness to maintain itself and the contiguous sock portion upstanding to provide an upstanding frame around the foot portion of the sock, said frame being of sufficient height to restrain the foot of the wearer from shifting materially outwardly of 6 the unstressed position of said we1t,-said welt having a foot portion located intermediate the bottom Wall of the sock and the inner face of said outer sole and in immediate contact with both of these elements, said bottom wall of the sock being cemented to the adjacent face of the foot portion of the welt, and said foot portion of the welt being cemented to the adjacent part of the inner face of said outer sole.

2. The article of footwear defmed in claim l, further characterized by the fact that the angular welt comprises woven cloth.

MAURICE SPACK.

REFERENCES CITED The following-references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNiTED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,335,287 Lundin et a1 Mar. 30, 1920 1,579,650 Cutler Apr. 6, 1926 1,597,655 Merrick Aug. 24, 1926 1,622,860 Cutler Mar. 29, 1927 1,752,787 Cutler Apr. 1, 1930 1,803,554 Knilans May 5, 1931 1,831,764 Evans Nov. 10, 1931 1,855,226 Estey Apr. 26, 1932 1,972,976 Burnham Sept. 11, 1934 1,990,803 Thompson Feb. 12, 1935 2,147,197 Glidden Feb. 14, 1939 2,334,659 vVan Arsdale Nov. 16, 1943 2,427,179 Ayers Sept. 9, 1947 2,437,030 Hoza Mar. 2, 1948 2,443,588 rAyers June 22, 1948 2,522,505 Ferris Sept. 19, 1950 2,538,673 Donahue Jan. 16, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 442,757 Germany Apr. 11, 1927 859,262 France June 3, 1940 

